Reader

I have been enjoying Rhys Bowen's series and was delighted there is a new Christmas volume.
I was especially impressed that it really had to do with Christmas and Christmas is central to the story. I have noticed that many authors write a "holiday" book that could stand on its own without any Christmas theme, its just that the mystery takes place around Christmas, but "12 Clues" needs the holidays to hang together.
Further, the story itself, as well as the narrator, are excellent and quite enjoyable. I have listened to maybe 20 Christmas audibles this you and !2 Clues is the most memorable.
Thank you.

A riveting story of what probably is a routine type case. Police looking for "numbers" do shoddy work and send an innocent young man to jail. The legal side of the story and efforts to exonerate him are a well-told-tale.

SO much static that you can't her it. Therefore it is a total waste, and really annoying too.

Slow moving, focus on Minnesota. But the characters of the children, and the narrator's portrayal is so annoying I could hardly listen. Its not "cute" its irritating.

This is an engrossing story that is written to bring visual images to mind. The listener learns much about the history and atmosphere of "Old Florida" while following a family chronicle.
Guidall is, as usual, and excellent narrator.
I was sorry when it ended.

This somewhat plodding legal "thriller" leaves most of its surprises until the end. So it could easily be cut in half, then its worth the effort.

Awful, amateurish political "thriller" about first US woman president. Far fetched story of president who is poisoned, women VP takes over his role (and calls her father a lot on the phone) and then attempts are made on her life so that the Aryan Brotherhood can overthrow the government. Lots of action takes place in a bathroom. I'm not kidding. The breathless narrator recants this absurd tale. No thanks!

Connie Shelton's stories are average at best but her use of New Mexico, in this case Santa Fe (and Albuquerque) are intriguing. Her description of Santa Fe, and "spiritual centers" are right on. However, the narrator doesn't know how to pronounce Hispanic names in Santa Fe, which is a big flaw because much of the population, including the police force are heavily Hispanic. This occurred throughout the book but was especially annoying for a main character, Det. Gallegos. The is not pronounced as it looks it is pronounce "Guy-eg-os" and most everyone in New Mexico knows this. Also, there were some references to Gallup, NM that were also inaccurate.So a mediocre plot, but with good local description, was brought down by this lack of authenticity.

Shelton gives good coverage to Christmas in New Mexico, and specifically in Albuquerque. But the plot itself has little to do with the holidays at all; the story could take place anytime of the year. That does detract.
The tale is told in a cloying way and sounds aimed at lower intelligence readers; it is a simplistic tale about neighborhood quirks and quirky characters. Does not have the feel of an experienced author.
The book spends most of the story covering family problems of a few families, and there is not even any crime committed until later in the book. Ending is forced. Yawn.

I expected this book to be a solid discussion of economic and "spiritual" issues. I did not realize that it would be an evangelical Christian discussion of the bible and the Rapture. It was anti-Obama with many examples of how the author sees his failures. Although I did not expect this and it is not clear from the description, this is a strongly right-wing book with strongly political and religious bias. By using lots of numbers it sounds like it is more objective than it is.It even includes strong criticism of gay rights even tho this seems to have nothing to do with the main topic.

I expected something more broad-based, and "spiritual" in the sense of values, ethics and non-materialist considerations.